


Telescope

by EpiKatt



Series: The adventures of Time Lord Ianto and Jack. [2]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Outer Space, References to Smut, Time Lord Ianto Jones, Time Travel, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-25 23:26:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21364399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EpiKatt/pseuds/EpiKatt
Summary: Ianto finds a girl named Safph lost on a space station and takes her in, but a mission drags Jack and Ianto away and the TARDIS is all too happy to help out with Safph.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Series: The adventures of Time Lord Ianto and Jack. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1472153
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	Telescope

**Author's Note:**

> Title name from Cavetown's "Telescope."
> 
> I first started this about two months ago, wrote 1k and then shelved it to wallow in depression. The past week or so though I finally remembered it and spent it writing the rest of it. I really hope you enjoy, because TL!Ianto is extremely fun to write.
> 
> [One hundred percent I do not own any of these characters besides the original ones,, the rest are owned by BBC (and our hearts)]
> 
> (Edit: 1-25-2020  
Did some minor editing; fixing tenses, run-on sentences, replacing/deleting adjectives. Nothing's different with the plot.)
> 
> *Warnings in the end notes*

In a galaxy far far away- Ianto chuckles- Ianto and Jack were in a spaceport of the lesser favored members of society.

Ianto was currently searching on the not-so-nice side of an already suspicious place looking for a certain item to fix his TARDIS. She'd blown a few things after their last stunt too close to a black hole, something Ianto was none too willing to retry and Jack was much too willing for a second go-round.

His surroundings were what you'd expect in a back-alley area, dark and grungy and uncomfortably humid. He stoops down to look into one stall, the alien in it was three feet shorter than him and it took a moment to find what he was looking for. He'd already been here three hours looking while Jack did…. whatever it was he did and now he'd finally found it. 

He spoke to the being using Galactic Standard while giving him a significant amount of credits and eagerly taking the piece of tech, stuffing it into his pockets and turning around with a Jack-like flourish and was on his way back to the TARDIS. He heard a faint scraping noise as he passed an alley and immediately turned toward it, expecting a mugger or someone of the like. Instead, he saw a small girl clinging to the dirty material that the walls were made of around here and had a petrified look on her face. She looked human, but around here that could mean anything, so he made sure to be wary as he approached.

The kid sniffles and shuffles back, untrusting of this stranger. Ianto could grant her that. He crouches down carefully in front of her, a few feet away.

"Why hello there, have a name?" He asks in Standard. Many don't speak English on this side of the system.

She glares at him and straightens up, lifting her chin. "Safph," She replies in accented Standard; obviously not her first language, even in that one word. Somewhere more lower class. Yes… he can see it. He blinks suddenly and tries not to grimace, he'd glanced in her time stream. He hates doing that.

"Well, my name is Ianto. Do you know where your parents are?" He asks curiously.

"I.. don't know. I turned to look at a Serty and when I looked back they were gone," She says with grief in her voice. Ianto frowns and glances around. 

"How about we look around for them, hm?" He suggests.

She looks at him, unsure, before nodding slightly and stepping forward. He puts a hand on her shoulder and they begin wandering around. They search fruitlessly for an hour before Ianto decides to head back to the TARDIS, knowing the parents had already left.

"How many siblings do you have?" He asks conversationally, but was really just trying to fill the gaps. 

"I have four sisters and six brothers, I'm the youngest," She declares proudly. He notices she seems a little happier than she was earlier. Probably because she was distracted; and the amount of siblings explains how they wouldn't have noticed a sibling missing. Ianto nearly stopped upon realizing he'll have to tell Jack. He winces. 

He grins when he sees his disguised TARDIS. She had taken the idea of what to disguise as from Jack, and knowing seemed to be a joke between them. Ianto walks them both under the bright yellow "Tacos!" sign and inside the much bigger room. Safph looks around with her mouth open while Ianto shuts the door behind her and walks up to the console.

"Cool, huh?" He says with a grin, glad to see her give him one in return.

"It's big," She says breathlessly. 

"I know, absolutely massive," He agrees. Standing there and watching her explore, he realizes he has no clue of what to do. His only experience with childcare having come from short term babysitting for his sister and the occasional creature that fell through the rift that needed help. Swallowing nervously, he taps his comm to open it and to get to Jack.

"Jack, sweetheart, love of my life, could you be ever so dearest and come back to the TARDIS as soon as you can?" He asks, candy sweet.

There was a momentary pause as Ianto assumes Jack finishes up what he was doing before there's a reply. "What've you done, Ianto?" He asks warily.

"Oh, absolutely nothing!" Ianto says cheerfully, eyeing Safph carefully. "But I may have found something," He admits.

"How pressing is this 'thing'?" Jack asks cautiously, but Ianto already knew he was on his way back. Jack's time stream was more blurred but he could easily sense motives. 

"Depends, I suppose. Just come here quickly, please?"

"Yeah yeah I'll be there soon," comes the muttered reply before the link was closed down. Ianto stares at Safph, unsure of what to do now. Wait for Jack, he supposes.

He stays leaning against the console and making sure she isn't getting into anything and is incredibly relieved when Jack pushes through the bright yellow door. "So," He says cheerfully and claps his hands together, "what's our problem?"

Ianto opens his mouth to reply when Safph falls off a chair she'd apparently decided on climbing and landed on the ground with a thump.

Jack's reaction would have been comical if he weren't so nervous, so when Jack spins around with a look of concern and surprise on his face, all Ianto could do was watch helplessly.

Safph and Jack lock eyes, neither blinking. Slowly, Jack turns towards Ianto. "What the fuck is this?"

"Language," He says weakly, cringing back a little, a lever digging into his lower back.

Jack glowers at Ianto but seems to listen. "Why is there a random child in here?" He demands.

"Well, um, you see. Jack, my love, my dearest, light of my life. I found her on the street and brought her here." At Jack's unmoving look, Ianto swallows. "And er, she'd lost her parents and I found her well, you see, I couldn't just er leave her behind, right? You understand…"

Jack sighs, shoulders slumping. "I'm not mad," he bemuses, shrugging, "mostly surprised though."

"I'm hungry," She states, walking toward them with her chin held high.

Jack raises an eyebrow.

  
  


"Alright," Jack replies, giving Ianto the 'we'll talk about this later' look and leads Safph to the kitchen. Thankfully, the TARDIS seems to be in a good mood today and gives them a relatively straight path to the kitchen. Though, she always seems to be when Jack was around. Ianto would be jealous if it weren't for him being the only one she let's pilot her.

Ianto trails after them quietly, hungry himself and knowing Jack and him would be having a talk soon. He walks in and sees Jack going through the fridge for food and pulls out something similar to applesauce for Safph. Ianto guesses the TARDIS read her mind and supplied it for her. He frowns when he realizes how attached the TARDIS is already getting when they'll eventually have to give the child back. She hums softly in the back of his mind, letting him know she knows. He sighs and strokes a nearby wall gently.

Safph grins and digs into the food eagerly, Jack watching her with a vaguely amused expression. 

Ianto slinks toward the cupboard and pulls out a bag of Skittles, one of his guilty pleasures. He hesitantly offers a handful to Jack, who huffs but takes the offering, eating them with a quiet crunch. Ianto takes the relative peace offering for what it is and eats his own share.

A few minutes later, Ianto puts the package back in the cupboard and Safph is finished by then so he cleans her stuff up too.

She yawns exaggeratedly wide and smacks her lips for extra effect. "Tired?" Jack asks, amused.

She nods and he sighs, leaning down to pick her up and walking to whatever room the TARDIS deems fitting. About ten minutes later, Jack returns and heads right toward a moderately miffed Ianto.

"We can keep her, right?" Wait a second. This is his ship. He frowns and is ready to say that when Jack beats him to it again;

"Yeah, I'm not cruel enough to just dump her somewhere. Who do you take me for, Ianto?" 

"I don't know…" Ianto grins slyly, "a very sexy, very lovely man with whom I travel and quite often share a bed with."

Jack rolls his eyes and comes forward, wrapping his arms around Ianto's waist and resting his chin on the other man's shoulder. Ianto quickly does the same, relaxing into the embrace happily. He was in a 'touch me right now' mood, and not just in the fun ways.

"Love you," Ianto murmurs, kissing Jack's jaw gently.

Ianto can feel and hear Jack's quiet hum in return.

"Wanna get naked in our bed?" Jack asks, tilting his head and sucking at Ianto's neck.

"You decide to do this while we have a child on board?" Ianto huffs, but doesn't push Jack away.

"I've done it before, isn't that hard, 'specially for a kid her age. Once they're out, they're out. Won't wake up for hours," Jack proclaims, biting down gently.

Ianto let's out a breathless sigh and pulls away. Jack gives him a disappointed look but when Ianto nods toward their room, the other man immediately lights up and grins, heading there in no time. Ianto smiles slightly, hearts beating faster in anticipation and excitement. 

___

It's the middle of the night when an annoying blaring begins throughout the TARDIS, waking both Ianto and Jack, along with Safph. The two of them look at each other in a moment of half-asleep confusion before jumping out of bed and pulling clothes on.

Ianto, in his time away from Earth, has stopped wearing complete suits except for some occasions, something he is extremely grateful for in moments like these as he just pulls on a button-up with dress pants. As expected though, Jack dons his usual outfit, coat, belt, suspenders and all.

They stumble into the hallway, red flashing lights obvious and alarms louder, to see a crying Safph in front of them. Jack quickly scoops her up while Ianto jogs into the console room to see what was wrong. As soon as he steps in, the alarms thankfully stopped. He peers at one of the flashing screens and reads the message.

"Interesting… seems like something we can help with," Ianto decides, straightening up when Jack catches up with a sniffling Safph.

"The planet Algol is in an economical crisis, and it would seem a very rare, very greedy Racnoss has killed and imprisoned their government leaders and has taken over. I know we have her, but, are you interested in checking it out at least?"

Jack rubs Safphs back distractedly, he probably didn't realize he was doing it, Ianto muses.

"Seems we don't have a choice. For the TARDIS to react like this, it must be important."

Ianto hums thoughtfully, feeling his hearts beat in his chest as he decides.

"Yes. We can always leave her on here, but she might want to look around, and the experience would be fun, I think," Ianto says, looking over at Jack, who was still holding a now dozing Safph.

"Take her back to bed, I'm going to put the new part in the ship and when you're done you can grab a few more supplies before we head out. Alright?"

Jack nods and turns around, back into the labyrinth that was the TARDIS and to Safph's (temporary) bedroom.

Ianto hums a song he heard at the station and grabs the part he'd tossed aside and slips under the grating and into the guts of the TARDIS. 

Thirty minutes later, he emerges while Jack is just returning with some changes of clothes for their new guest along with some ammo and food. "Ready, then?" Ianto asks, walking up to him with a quirked eyebrow.

Jack glances at something on Ianto's face and grins. "You have a uh.. a little something," and motions toward his forehead, setting the bags on the ground. Ianto frowns and wipes his forehead, only spreading more on his face and causing Jack to snort. Ianto's frown quickly morphs into a scowl. Jack quickly finds a loose cloth and wets it before stepping forward and wiping off Ianto's face while he only stood there petulantly.

"There we go, sweetheart, all better," Jack croons, stepping back. The other man huffs and turns to the console, flipping switches and pulling levers before they're off, only a quiet whooshing compared to the Doctor's whirring-grinding sound. 

"The differences in your TARDIS'es is quite astounding," Jack remarks.

"The wonders there are when you remember to turn off the parking break," says Ianto, wryly, knowing without asking who Jack meant. It was, of course, obvious, considering there were only two Time Lords, three sometimes but the third never has a TARDIS. 

It's a few minutes before they land, as evidently it was quite a distance. And checking their coordinates confirms it. "I forgot how far away this planet is from everything. No wonder the economy is horrid," Ianto says, glancing up. "No one here to help."

"I'm pretty sure the Time Agency actually destroys this planet in my time. It was so useless that they deemed all the people's lives… unnecessary," Jack says darkly. Ianto only frowns a little in reply.

"Well!" Ianto says suddenly, clasping his hands together, "let's go out and see what's happening. I'll instruct the TARDIS on what to do with Safph while you make friends with the locals. And Jack?"

Jack hums and tilts his head, showing he was paying attention. "Be careful," Ianto says softly, leaning forward and kissing him. Jack smiles and pulls away, holding Ianto's face gently. 

"Always am, sweetheart," Jack soothes. Ianto sighs and leans into the touch, nodding.

Jack slowly pulls away, gives Ianto one last kiss, and leaves.

Ianto rubs his jaw before turning to the console, just to have something to look at while he spoke.

"Alright. I would like it if you could keep Safph occupied while we're out. Feed her, show her where the bathrooms are, stuff like that. Just don't let her leave, do you understand?"

Ianto gets a brief hum from the TARDIS as her answer and he accepts it. "Good. I'll find her a DataPad for her to play on before meeting up with Jack," He declares, walking into their bedroom and pulling one from a drawer. He quickly jogs down the hallway and opens the door to Safph's room and sets it on the nightstand before leaving.

___

Ianto steps outside the TARDIS, scans his surroundings, and finds them on the edge of a town. A very derelict town, he notices. He takes in a deep breath of the more nitrogen heavy air and goes to look for Jack.

It takes a little while, but he soon finds the man in a bar at the end of a street, laughing at something and taking a shot when Ianto walks in. He saunters over to the man and sits in the seat beside him, leaning against Jack and silently preening when Jack leans back against him.

"And so I said, 'run away with your tail between your legs like a dog, you reptile!' " Jack exclaims, snorting at the recipient's reactions. Ianto guesses he'd need context for it to be funny, so he doesn't berate Jack, but it's a near thing. Jack holds up a hand to them and turns to the bartender, asking for two drinks. Ianto assumes one is for him.

"So, the Racnoss rumor is true, and he's been collecting people and.. well. Eating them. And not just a couple, but several hundred. He's been here a few years, and people are still terrified. I'm not really surprised," Jack delivers, switching to English so the other people couldn't hear. He makes a conscious effort to make the TARDIS not translate their words. Now that Ianto's paying attention, he can see that though they're humanoid, they have dark blue skin, are very tall, and have a spike on each shoulder. The females it seems have two also but they're smaller. Their skin also seems darker.

"So, what you're saying is we need to help?" Ianto asks with a sigh, glancing at everyone's clothes, noticing how ragged and torn they were.

"Sadly, yes. Safph will have to wait a short while longer," Jack confirms, reaching forward and putting his hand on Ianto's shoulder.

"Did you find out if there's General or if they're all around the same?" He hums, resting his hand on top of Jack's. 

"Not that I know of. I feel like they'd be grumbling about it at some point while I've been here," Jack replies, causing Ianto to nod in agreement.

"Yes, you're right. I think we should find where he's making base before heading back to the TARDIS to rest and check on Safph," Ianto says, moving to stand and only slightly disappointed when Jack removes his hand. Jack says his goodbyes to the patrons before they make their leave.

It doesn't take long to find the most well-looking building and identify it as the base by the nervous and most likely threatened-to-be-there guards. They look at each other with matching grins before turning and leaving, only, there was a loud call from behind him and a different set of guards, guards that look disturbingly loyal, Ianto notices, are coming after them. Both their eyes widen in surprise and they take off running. One thing Ianto can add to the list of "Humanoid; but here's why they're not human" as it can run very fucking fast.

It's only moments before they're both inevitably tackled to the ground, Ianto landing with a pained grunt.

His arms are wrenched behind him and he's quickly restrained. He scowls into the dirt as he's yanked back up and unceremoniously marched to the building they were just scouting, with Jack beside him. Ianto wasn't really worried, more upset because his plans were interrupted. But he isn't dumb enough to think that things couldn't get worse. He's confident they won't. Maybe. He frowns. 

It isn't too long before they're put in separate cells in a dark but clean area, definitely a basement. How cliche, Ianto thinks, sliding down to sit on the ground.

"Jack?" He calls, wondering how far away the man is. The answering call is thankfully only a couple cells down, well within earshot. At least, his and an advanced humans earshot. 

"Right here, sweetheart," Jack calls. Ianto immediately relaxes, and he couldn't help from smiling a little at the nickname. He leans his head back against the light grey wall and lets out an annoyed sigh.

"I wonder how the TARDIS is treating Safph," Ianto says, after a little while.

There's a moment before Jack answers, thinking, Ianto presumes.

"She's probably fine, the Doctor's TARDIS was always very aloof, but yours is quite friendly and I'd trust her with kids," was the other man's answer.

Ianto hums in reply, but figured Jack didn't hear. "I'm going to take a nap while we wait for the Racnoss to decide to grace us with his presence, I'd suggest you do the same, love," Ianto says, closing his eyes and shifting a little.

"Good idea," Jack agrees, doing the same. A few minutes later, they were both asleep, not aware of what was coming next. Ianto's subconscious did, though, and his dreams were unpleasant.

___

Safph woke up in the her bedroom on the TARDIS to the lights dimmed and the always present humming in the ship a little quieter. She yawns and stretches before clambering out of her bed and going into the hallway, ignoring the DataPad on her stand in favor of exploring. The TARDIS was all too happy to help, leading her down hallways to huge rooms filled with books and pictures and statues, along with stuff she can't name. She can't read yet, either, but the covers were interesting.

She then went on to find a room with a giant warm pool and she grins and immediately falls into it. The TARDIS was alarmed and quickly made the pool shallow enough for Safph, causing the girl to squeal in excitement.

She splashes around for a while and the TARDIS even conjures up some small toys for her to play with, before she gets bored and gets out. The TARDIS quickly leads her back to her room so she could change into dry clothes.

Once she was changes she proclaims she's hungry and the TARDIS eagerly leads her to the kitchen, showing her a sandwich. Safph grins and wolfs it down, the hunger of a toddler knowing no bounds. The TARDIS then introduces her to Coke, which Safph drinks happily.

Safph then decides to go exploring again, and the TARDIS can sense her getting tired, so she's led to a nice garden with lots of different plants and animals. She flops down in the grass and grins at the ceiling, which the TARDIS guesses is directed at her.

She yawns once more and falls back, shutting her eyes and falling asleep in moments. The TARDIS wishes her Time Lord and his human would do that, but instead they always stay up in their room being loud and making the TARDIS ignore them for a few hours. Still, her Ianto is happy and she likes his Jack, so she doesn't really mind.

Knowing what's about to happen to them, she does a mental sigh and wishes them the best. When the notification comes in, she's nearly surprised since she'd mostly forgotten this part. Just to check (though she's never wrong) it's a confirmed ask for Safph from the parents, sending it to all the ships docked in during the time they were there. If she had a head she'd be shaking it. Her pilots were ever so reckless, and bringing a small one onto the ship was certainly something new. She relished it, however. Someone new on the ship is rare and someone she likes? Even more so. Even knowing that Safph will have to leave soon, she's already attached.

After guiltily looking into her time stream, she's pleased to see Safph lives a long and (relatively) safe and happy life. She does remember Jack and Ianto it seems, and keeps tabs on them for a long time.

If she had a face, or a body really, (that's not for a while..) she'd smile. So instead, she let's out a content hum throughout the ship.

The TARDIS is patient. She is also forgiving and loving and everything possible. For now though, she's pleased.

___

Ianto is woken by footsteps and he snaps awake, sitting up since he'd slouched over. The guards open his cell and Ianto immediately notices when they don't go to Jack's. He narrows his eyes but doesn't say anything when he's taken away. He can see Jack pressed against the door of his cell, looking at Ianto fiercely through the window. He smiles tightly in reassurance before he's out of sight.

Steak sounds good right now. Wait. That wasn't his thought. He glances to his left to the guard holding him and sighs when he realizes he accidentally looked into his mind. He's distracted, sue him.

He's lead into a huge room and nearly rolls his eyes at the sight of the Racnoss on a throne. He can't really say he's surprised, though. He's forced into a kneel and growls in annoyance, looking up at him with a sneer, not bothering to hide his disdain.

"Ianto Jones. I haven't seen you in many years, old enemy," He murmurs, peering down at Ianto.

Ianto blanks, figuring he doesn't meet the Racnoss until later in his own time stream. He curses internally and lifts his head up higher, deciding to play along.

"Hello again. If you've met me before, then you should know I'm here to stop you," Ianto says confidently. 

There's a very audible hum before he climbs down on his enormous eight legs and Ianto is barely able to disguise a shudder; he'd always hated spiders, half or full. 

"From our last encounter, I'm still a little angry at being fooled, tiny Time Lord, so I'm here to get revenge," the Racnoss says ominously.

Ianto shifts uncomfortably, nervously glancing behind him before he's pulled onto his feet. He swallows as he's led to a table and strapped down. He's already able to feel the loss of blood flow in his hands and feet. He briefly wonders how Jack is doing right now before the Racnoss is looming over him, causing Ianto to pale considerably and makes his hearts beat faster. He likes this face, he really doesn't want to regenerate right now. And he'd really like to go without the pain. Mostly the pain.

Ianto makes a weak attempt at struggling before quickly deciding that, no, that isn't going to work. 

The Racnoss leans down slowly, and Ianto shivers at the rancid breath, before he's being bitten in the neck and suddenly everything is just pure pain, burning and writhing and licking at his entrails. There's maybe a second of thought where he thinks poison before a scream is ripped from his throat and his back arches sharply off the table. Everything around him is swirling colors and too-bright lights.

His hearts are beating far too fast and everything is too fucking loud and how can he hear the bones in his toes creaking as he clenches them, or feel the guard a few feet to his left shift his feet. Ianto feels ethereal in the absolute worst possible way. He can see every person's time stream in the building, except the black hole that is Jack's. He can feel the pain of almost half of them being eaten alive in a possible time, or being suffocated by a greedy family member, drowning in a bathtub after having a stroke, a gun range mishap. He can feel it all simultaneously, can see and feel and hear the synapses in his brain exploding at the sensory overload. Ianto barely registers the feeling of his nails breaking as he clenches the table under his grip tightly enough.

A sudden acid feeling begins to move through his blood, causing his eyes to snap open and it doesn't take a genius to notice his eyes are glowing, and not with regeneration energy, but pure Time Lord. Ianto can.. feel the planet spinning on it's slightly straighter axis than Earth's, can smell the smoke of a house a few blocks down, can taste the ash of a ransacked city, hear a child's last breath on the opposite side of the city. He feels a heart stop in his chest and he's suddenly yanked back into his body, the pain flooding him again and drawing another scream, before he realizes he never stopped. Ianto's throat is open and bloody, he can taste the copper on his tongue. Blood drips from his nose and ears.

It takes a few moments to realize that the Racnoss is laughing at him. He swallows down his next scream after a breath, his respiratory bypass barely keeping up.

"Oh I do so love what my poison does to Time Lords. Of course, I'd only heard it in theory, written in ancient texts and told by my grandparents. Humans don't react quite the same, all they do is cry and cry and cry while squirming. In Time Lords… the pain they feel is real and at the same time, not. It's so delicious to watch, I'm positively starving. I can't wait to finish and eat you and your mate," the Racnoss gloats, raising one leg and poising it for attack and then striking it directly in his middle, straight through him and hitting the table below with a thunk.

Ianto's whole body spasms and he lets out a ragged sob, voice cracking. He shivers constantly from the pain, suddenly freezing and burning hot, sweat covering his face.

Jack, my love, he thinks, eyes wide and mouth gaping as he dragged in desperate breaths, his one working heart beating in overtime to compensate for one heart not working and the drastic blood loss. He was dizzy and everything was hazy, but he didn't know if that was the blood loss or the poison or possibly both. All he knew was he wanted it to be over. He wished he'd taken this more seriously.

A loud gunshot from Jack's familiar Webley sounds through the room and a guard collapses, soon there's more shots and more fall. The Racnoss turns around with a snarl while yanking his leg out of Ianto's stomach, eliciting a pained gurgle and charges at Jack, eight legs moving in a blur. Ianto can bet Jack's eyes widen while he turns and runs away and stops at intervals to shoot the Racnoss.

He lets out a loud roar and charges Jack once again, knocking the man roughly into a wall and causing him to cry out. Ianto winces in sympathy and at his own pain, everything burning. Jack quickly stands back up and fires many bullets into the Racnoss's head. It took a lot before he finally stumbled a fell, hissing in pain and disbelief. Jack fires a few more to finish him off before looking over at Ianto and paling before sprinting over.

"Sweetheart, hold on," Jack murmurs, undoing the restraints with deft fingers. Ianto coughs weakly and flexes his hand a little when it's released. Once Jack is done, he's hefted into his arms and he already feels better, surrounded by Jack's warmth and his incredible scent. He can only sigh and relax into the man, eyes slipping shut. 

Before he can fall asleep, he's being slapped in the face and he snaps awake with a drowsy scowl. "Don't fall asleep on me, Ianto, stay awake until we reach the TARDIS, alright? Can you do that for me, sweetheart?" Jack asks calmly. If Ianto were more lucid, he would hear the desperation, but since he isn't, he doesn't, and only nods and nuzzles closer. He distantly realizes Jack is in a dead sprint and smiles dizzily. 

He blinks and when he next opens his eyes he's in the TARDIS's sickbay, laid on a comfortable bed and Jack is over him, fixing his stomach. Ianto blinks owlishly and looks down to see Jack's hands inside his stomach, fixing everything inside. Jack murmurs something to him and he quickly falls back asleep.

___

The next time Ianto opens his eyes, it's to see a vaguely lit bedroom, (theirs, he dizzily thinks) and notices he's alone. He sits up with a grimace and looks down at his bandaged stomach. From what Ianto could tell, his stomach seemed mostly healed and both hearts were beating, if the one that previously stopped a little sluggish. Slipping out of the bed with a partially muffled groan, he quietly pads down the hallway to where the TARDIS led him. He trusted her enough to take him to where Jack was. 

Hearing the sound of giggles, he hummed contemplatively and continues down the hallway carefully. Ianto reaches the doorway where the laughing is coming from and peeks inside, smiling when he saw Jack making faces at Safph. The amount of domesticity would normally make him nervous, but with Jack initiating it, he felt it was safe to approach.

Ianto made his approach obvious and visibly relaxes when Jack catches sight of him and gave Ianto a relieved smile. "Feeling better, I see," Jack comments, glancing at Safph when she demands more apple sauce. He only rolls his eyes and slides his carton across the table to her.

"Yes, much better thanks to you," Ianto murmurs, coming beside Jack and leaning into him with a sigh. Jack chuckles quietly and scoots the chair back a little and gesturing to his lap. Ianto rolls his eyes but slowly settles into Jack's lap, missing him, just a little. He leans his head tiredly into Jack's shoulder and looks over at Safph, who's just finishing her apple sauce.

"Thank you for saving me," Ianto says quietly, closing his eyes.

Jack hums and runs his hand across Ianto's stomach gently. "Why wouldn't I? Now you'll owe me a favor," Jack chuckles, his breath tickling Ianto's ear.

"Mmm.. what might that favor be?"

"You'll see," Jack growls in his ear, pulling away with a smug grin that Ianto couldn't see.

Ianto just makes a quiet noise of assent and dozes for a few minutes before Safph gets bored and demands they do something.

Jack and Ianto look at each other before Jack sighs, resigned to his fate to play with Safph, while Ianto stumbles back to bed.

___

The TARDIS watches her boys fondly and silently holds back the notification that would take away Safph. They still needed her for a while yet, to learn that yes, they could have kids, sometime in the future. She would eagerly help, if they were anything like Safph. From what Ianto has let her see (she doesn't listen to him so this means anything) babysitting looks quite fun, and she's always happy to cook for her Time Lord and Human.

Currently, Jack is passed out on the couch in the living space she conjured up while Safph was playing a color matching game the TARDIS had made for her. Ianto was also asleep, but far deeper and slightly more troubled. She was trying her best to keep the bad dreams away, but figures he would want to comfort from his Human. So she just smoothes out the rougher edges and dulls the vividness.

She makes sure Jack can hear Ianto crying out in his sleep and he's just unaware enough to not ask why and just listens.

The TARDIS watches in satisfaction as even sadness creeps in from Safph's impending departure. 

___

Ianto could just feel the acid in his veins, except it was different this time. When he closed his eyes he was strapped to that damned table, yet when he opened them he found himself on the floor of the Thames House, in Jack's arms. Somehow this was worse. Jack's distraught face above his, eyes shimmering and red-rimmed. Ianto could feel his body shaking. 

"I love you."

"Don't."

Except now he was somewhere else entirely, somewhere almost forgotten.

The world was burning around him, he was young, so young. Barely in the Academy. All he knew was his mother was pushing him desperately to her TARDIS, tears streaming down her face as she begged the TARDIS to take care of her boy and pushed Ianto inside and shut the door. All he could do was cry silently as the TARDIS's engines started and slowly the sounds of "EXTERMINATE!" and the smell of smoke faded.

Now he's back on the table, except it was his father looming over him, a sneer on his face and a knife in his hand as he plunged it into Ianto's stomach, causing him to cry out loudly, and the worst part was that it was mostly just from the pain, not surprise.

Oh Rassilon, so much blood, blood on his hands and his wrists and under his nails and between his teeth, dried on his face and wedged between his fingers. He could taste it as it dropped from him and fell onto the ground below and formed the Gallifreyen symbol of his name, his whole name.

All he could do was sob desperately. Oh god the noises, they were getting louder and louder and was he finally going mad like the Master? So much noise he couldn't breathe he cou-

"Ianto!"

And he snaps awake with a ragged gasp, akin to the one's Jack revived with. Ianto desperately checks his hands and arms before touching his face and panicking at the moisture there before he realized they were tears.

A startled sob burst out of his throat before he damn near launched himself against Jack, holding onto the other man as if he held all the answers, and in this moment he did. Ianto sobs loudly into Jack's shirt and clutched the bit at the back while Jack murmured words in his ear he couldn't hear and rubs his back.

It was several minutes later before the white noise started to fade and his hearts finally slowed enough so that he could hear Jack. After that it wasn't long before he was just gripping onto Jack tightly as he was gently rocked.

Soon, they were just holding each other in silence before Jack carefully broke it. "Sweetheart.. if you don't mind me asking but, what was that? That was more than what happened yesterday," Jack says carefully, brushing his hands up and down against Ianto's arms.

Ianto only swallows and settles his forehead against Jack's chest while taking a few calming breaths.

"I wasn't even alive, when the Time War began, and still very young when it- when Gallifrey fell, the planet I lived on. Barely 20, a kid, still in my first year at the Academy. All I knew was that all of a sudden, in the middle of the day, we couldn't see our suns, and then the Daleks were on us. My mother.. my mother took me to her TARDIS and I… I left. She and the rest of my family died while I was launched far, far away on the other side of the universe. I'm assuming it's the only reason I'm still alive," Ianto explains quietly, letting out a short breath.

Jack had stopped rubbing Ianto's back while he spoke, but he quickly resumed once he realized Ianto was finished. "Similar to me, then," Jack says wryly, a grim smile on his face that Ianto can barely see if he turns his head. He only laughs brokenly against Jack's wet shirt in agreement.

"Let me get you another shirt," Ianto says hoarsely after a few moments of heavy silence. Jack looks at him questionably before sighing and letting go. Ianto gets out of the bed and stands on shaky legs and walking over to the closet on the other side of the room. He comes back a minute later with a plain gray shirt for Jack and handed it over, tossing the snot covered blue one in the corner for later to wash.

"Is Safph asleep?" Ianto asks quietly as he climbs back into the bed. Jack hesitates, "Do you want me to check?"

Ianto nods, relieved Jack asked first. Jack slidees off the bed and left the room. Ianto settles into the bed with a content sigh, pulling the blankets around him and glaring halfheartedly at his stomach when he felt a twinge. It wasn't long before Jack returned and slid in beside him, curling up close, which made Ianto feel leagues better.

"So?"

"She was passed out on the floor before I took her to her room," Jack says with a snort. Ianto smiles and turns to face Jack, settling against him and laying his head on the other man's shoulder. 

"That's good," Ianto sighs, reaching for Jack's hand and shivering a little when he finds it, twining their fingers together.

"I love you," Jack murmurs, kissing Ianto's temple gently.

"Love you too," Ianto replies happily, eyes slowly sliding closed. They were both asleep in just a few minutes.

___

The next day Ianto was messing with things on the console while Jack entertained Safph in the kitchen, he saw the blinking light signaling a notification on one of his monitors. He hummed and made his way over, his stomach was still a little sore, even with advanced healing devices.

To anyone at Station *******:

Have you seen my daughter? She's very short with dark brown hair, green eyes and looks about four or five standard years old. Her name is Safph and I will give a reward to any who return her to me safely.

Reward: 12.000 credits.

Ianto's eyes widen and he looks in the direction where Jack and Safph were. He knew this was going to break the man's heart. Ianto rubs his chin thoughtfully with a frown before accepting that no, they couldn't steal her.

He can only sigh before picking up a DataPad and moving the information onto it and heading to where Jack was. 

Upon arrival, he quietly told the TARDIS to entertain Safph while he spoke to Jack. He can only assume her very loud hum was eager acceptance. 

Ianto walks into the room and Jack must have seen his expression, because he frowned. He crouches down with a stifled wince and looks at Safph. "Do you mind heading outside for a moment? The TARDIS will keep you company," he suggests, pointing to the door. She huffs but nods and simply stomps out.

Then he turns to Jack. "What is it?" He asks, sounding resigned.

"Safph's parents have made contact," Ianto says quietly.

Jack only closes his eyes and lets out a quiet sigh. "We knew this day was coming," he murmurs, scrubbing a hand over his face anxiously.

Ianto walks over to him and carefully sits down beside Jack, leaning into him. "It doesn't make this any easier, love. She'll be safe, at least. With us, she's bound to get hurt," Ianto says, trying to sound more cheerful than he was. Jack only lets out a halfhearted hum in agreement.

  
  


They sit there in silence for a few minutes, before Ianto gently took Jack's hand and brought it up, kissing each knuckle softly. Jack smiles weakly.

"Suppose we should go make our goodbyes and take her home, hm?"

"Mhm.." Jack agrees.

Ianto's face softened slightly and he placed Jack's own face between his hands and gave him a sweet kiss on the forehead. "I'll make this up to you," he murmurs, pulling away. Jack licks his lips and nods slightly.

Jack stands up with Ianto tugging him and they shuffle their way to the console room, where they see Safph giggling as she chased a light around the room excitedly. They glance at each other before Jack approached her to explain what was going on while Ianto put in the coordinates to their destination. 

The TARDIS's quiet churning was not enough to mask Safph's loud cries and barely covered Jack's desperate comforting.

They landed about an hour after the message was sent, and Ianto decided to go talk to the parents first before Jack and Safph came out.

The planet they were on looks rural and very green. Ah, a colonization planet, then. He looks around for a moment, before going for the front door and knocking twice and stepping back, hands clasped behind his back.

The door opens slowly with a wary man on the other side. He looks at Ianto with narrowed eyes and covers the doorway a bit more with his rather towering frame. Untrusting of them.

Ianto put on his most pleasant grin and started speaking; "I seem to have found something, or rather someone who wandered away from you. Would you mind if I spoke with you for a moment inside?"

The man's eyes widen and he swallows and hastily steps back, an obvious invitation if there ever was one. Ianto steps through and watches the man patiently.

"Er, my name is. Raldh. You have my daughter?" Raldh asks in heavily accented Standard.

"Ianto. Pleasure's all mine, Raldh. And yes, I do. I wished to discuss the amount of credits you're willing to pay," he says, clapping his hands together excitedly.

Raldh winces. "Twelve thousand is all we have.. we cannot go any higher, sir."

Ianto threw back his head and laughed. "Quite the opposite! I'm trying to make you part with just six thousand of your credits. Your daughter was a joy and I think she'll be needing the additional money. So, if that's acceptable with you, I can bring her in."

Raldh's eyes widen and he quickly nods, shaking Ianto's hand excitedly. "Alright, I'll be right back," He promised, letting go and jogging back to the TARDIS.

A few minutes later he returns with a sniffling Safph and a distraught Jack. Once Raldh's eyes lock on Safph, he nearly starts crying himself as he crouches down and eagerly pulls her into his arms.

They both start speaking quietly to each other in their native tongues, hugging each other tightly. Ianto notices that the TARDIS doesn't translate and guesses she wanted to give them their privacy. He could respect that.

Ianto gave them a few minutes before he gently prodded for the credits, wanting to get Jack and him out of there to grieve. Raldh stood up and went over to his DataPad and asks for Ianto's account info, which he easily hands over. A minute later the funds were in their account and they were ready to go. Jack had already said his good bye so Ianto crouches in front of Safph and gently hugs her good bye. She sniffles into his shoulder before he pulls away with a smile and kisses her forehead.

Then he and Jack left, hearts heavy.

___

_Two linear weeks later_

The two of them were currently on Earth for the first time in a while, this visit in London. Ianto had brought up missing it and Jack had agreed and thus; they'd gone.

They were walking down a street around eleven at night when they hear another pair of hurried footsteps.

Turning around they saw a tall man with curly grey hair and a slightly shorter woman with wild hair tearing after him. The grey haired man ran past them before skidding to a stop and turning to Jack and letting the woman stumble to a stop a couple of steps ahead, both panting heavily. "Jack! Dear friend! I need you to watch Miss. Potts for me, alright? Can you handle that? Good good I'll be off. Behave, Miss. Potts!" He calls while taking off again and leaving this Miss. Potts behind.

She turns to them with a winded, yet interested, look. "I'm assuming you're associates of the Doctor?"

"That was the Doctor?" Jack asks in surprise.

Miss. Potts grins and nods. "Looks a bit wacky, huh?"

"You can say that," Ianto snorts. Him and Jack both glance at Ianto's chest for a moment before bursting out laughing. "He didn't notice!" He says gleefully while Jack wheezes beside him and Miss. Potts watches in confused amusement.

They both soon calm down and turn to her. "Well, I think introductions are in order. What about you, gents?"

"Ianto Jones," Ianto introduces with a smile.

"Captain Jack Harkness," Jack purrs, reaching down and taking Bill's hand and placing a kiss to the knuckles. She only rolls her eyes and pulls her hand back. Ianto looks at Jack in mild surprise. One of the few to withstand Jack's charms it seems.

"One: I'm not into guys," she says with a smug grin.

"And two: the name's Bill Potts. And we're going to have a great time."

**Author's Note:**

> *Warnings* explicit torture, and later on a disturbing nightmare involving past abuse and the aforementioned torture.
> 
> I do plan on writing more! I have several things planned out so let's just hope my muse stays and I can work up the effort soon.
> 
> I do so hope you enjoyed and leave a kudos or a comment. This fic's chosen random comment: choo choo pickle pie.


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